Log of Badu--- a Tiki 21: SailBlogs

Sailing to Crane Keys

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:31:18 -0600

Sunny, Windy, Cold (Continued...)

Tarpon Basin

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:34:51 -0600

These waters are usually gin clear, shallow, and warm, but for the duration of our micro cruise they have been opaque and cold due to arctic northerlies and record low temperatures. When people think of sailing in the Florida Keys they often think of manatees, dolphins, brilliant tropical reef fish, coral heads, sponges, sea stars, sharks, and rays. But with such cold temperatures everything that can go out to deep water has done so in an effort to stay warm, and we have seen mostly the dead. (Continued...)

Craigslist Cruising

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:07:21 -0600

Anchored out in Key West Florida having just sailed the length of the Keys in a small enginless boat many things are running through my mind. I will try and relate a few of these by posting scraps from my logbook and adding another small gallery for the Keys. The premise of this trip was to find a small boat in the tropics for next to nothing, fly there, sail it as far as made sense, offload it and fly home. Basically a cruise on my own schedule without the hassles of long term boat ownership or short term chartering, an attempt to experience sailing without the planning or boat systems that conventional cruising seems to require. Instead I found that ingenuity, synchronicity, practiced trance states, friendship, and the physics of uncertainty are dependable systems of the seafaring life. Infact I would venture to say that becoming familiar with these, the substance of the experience, is more important to a successful cruise than familiarity with stuff that is for sale, whether it be ideas or gear. (Continued...)